Analysis: if Bertelsmann, owner of Penguin Random House, buys US publisher, writers expect smaller deals and less choice for readersUK watchdog investigates Penguin owner’s Simon & Schuster takeoverJokes circulated online when, in 2013, Penguin and Random House merged: would the new mega-publisher, which became the world’s biggest trade publishing group, be known as Random Penguin? Penguin House? Now, as the prosaically named Penguin Random House’s parent company Bertelsmann’s $2.17bn acquisition of Simon & Schuster comes under scrutiny in the UK, the jokes are fewer and further between.Authors have made it abundantly clear that they fear the fallout if the deal goes ahead. When it was first announced last November, the Authors Guild in the US was quick to register its objections. The acquisition, which would bring heavyweight S&S authors including Hillary Clinton, John Irving, Stephen King and Bob Woodward under the PRH umbrella in the US, would “creat[e] a huge imbalance in the US publishing industry”, it warned, calling on the US justice department to step in. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-03-22 23:24:23 UTC ]
Sales at Simon & Schuster came in at an all time high in 2020 at $901m, ViacomCBS has reported. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-26 10:10:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster has the potential to touch every part of the industry, including how much authors get paid and how bookstores are run. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-25 10:00:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this
While the pandemic sent shockwaves across the world’s publishing industry in 2020, some international markets reported strong performances with the US posting record-breaking sales while Australia also saw a major boost. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-25 01:03:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Wattpad has increasingly become a very popular platform among young writers. Allowing anyone to share their works and providing a route for aspiring authors to be discovered by the publishing industry, it has become a compelling route for those to looking to develop professionally as a writer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-24 03:00:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this
As the age-old advice goes, “Write what you know.” For Hillary Clinton, apparently this means pivoting from writing dense memoirs about “hard choices” and nonfiction books about women’s empowerment to . . . political fan fiction thinly disguised as a legal thriller? Simon & Schuster has... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-23 16:42:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Current Events On a visit to an Oklahoma City bookstore, Alex Crayon finds more than books. When I pulled into the snow-covered parking lot of Nappy Roots Books in northeast Oklahoma City, the first thing I noticed were the posters. Handwritten signs... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-02-22 21:59:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this
WHAT WOULD YOU DO if the person who hurt you most refused to say they were sorry? Could you forgive anyway? Best-selling author Susan Shapiro explores this universal question in her intriguing, insightful, all-too-relatable new book The Forgiveness Tour, out this past January. In her... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2021-02-21 18:00:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Google's News Corp deal may pacify Australian lawmakers, but publishing industry members worry about repercussions for smaller publishers. The post ‘I’m afraid of repercussions’: Publishing industry members question Google’s motives in paying off News Corp appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2021-02-18 05:01:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Google's News Corp deal may pacify Australian lawmakers, but publishing industry members worry about repercussions for smaller publishers. The post ‘I’m afraid of repercussions’: Publishing industry members question Google’s motives in paying off News Corp appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2021-02-18 05:01:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The idea for Muslim Voices in Publishing was born out of a feeling of loneliness – something that we have all experienced in multitudes over the many months of isolation and social distancing. The past year has been a stark reminder that, in anything we set out to do, there is often a need for a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-14 20:11:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Jonathan Karp, who took the helm at Simon & Schuster after the loss of its formidable former c.e.o. Carolyn Reidy, reveals how he intends to navigate the pandemic, a Penguin Random House takeover, and US politics Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-11 15:06:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this
One issue that causes the most stress for many employees, including those in the publishing industry, is the dread of simply arriving at work. Far too many people know they will face a negative atmosphere the moment they walk (or rather Zoom) into their workspace. The job we are employed to do... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-09 15:02:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Simon & Schuster is to publish Falling by T J Newman, after a two-book global deal secured for a seven-figure sum. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-08 11:43:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Today the Associated Press reported that Hunter Biden, son of famous memoirist Joe Biden, will publish a memoir of his own on April 6. The memoir will be published with Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Beautiful Things, acquired by Gallery Books in fall 2019, focuses on Biden’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-04 16:02:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Authors Guild and other writers' groups in the US have written a letter to the Department of Justice to block Bertelsmann's takeover of Simon & Schuster. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-01 03:48:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Stephen King is publishing a new thriller with Hodder in August 2021, Billy Summers. The book–about a unique hitman, "a good guy in a bad job”–has been billed as “part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-31 23:25:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this
If you’re on the hunt for new literary rabbit holes, today is your lucky day. The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction, created by lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower (a former editor of both the OED and Random House Dictionaries) is “a comprehensive quotation-based dictionary of the language of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-27 16:14:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Hannah Bright is returning to the publishing industry, joining the Midas books team as senior accounts manager from mid February. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-26 01:26:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Simon & Schuster severed ties with senator after Capitol attackPublisher distributes titles by conservative imprint RegneryThe rightwing Missouri senator Josh Hawley has found a publisher for a book dropped by Simon & Schuster over his role in attempting to overturn the US election on... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-01-18 16:02:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Class action lawsuit filed in US claims the houses have colluded with the online giant to keep prices artificially highAmazon.com and the “Big Five” publishers – Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster – have been accused of colluding to fix ebook... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-01-15 13:04:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this